You are here

Former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall has urged the club’s fans to get behind Nikica Jelavic as the misfiring forward struggles to regain his best form.

The Croatian striker, a £7million signing from Rangers last January, had a huge impact at Goodison Park last season in his first few months with the club as he netted nine goals in 13 games.

But this season the 27-year-old has failed to hit similar heights and has only struck six times in the Premier League, and Southall reckons he’s desperate to start scoring regularly again despite his moody demeanour.

He told the Weekend Sports Breakfast: “If he gets one off his backside today he’s liable to get five or ten between now and the end of the season. I think he just needs a goal.

“If you look at him he doesn’t look happy but if my striker looked happy and he wasn’t scoring goals I wouldn’t be playing him anyway.

“He’s just got one of those faces, to be fair, which doesn’t help. He looks a bit like Andrei Kanchelskis, like hes not interested and I think that hides a lot of things. I think he’s desperate to score goals because that’s what he lives on.

“If you’re a striker and you score loads of goals at Everton you’re going to be hot property and everything is in his favour. He just needs a goal.

“I feel for him sometimes because he works quite hard and he’s got a good combination with Marouane Fellaini but it’s just not happened, his touch isn’t quite there.

“He’s playing like Brett Angell at the moment instead of Graeme Sharp. We just need to get behind him.”